About 10 weeks back, whilst on holiday, I had sex with a sex worker. At the end of the session, I withdrew and was shocked to see that the condom had totally slipped off; it was inside the girl. I immediately washed myself and asked the girl about her status; she didnít have a good grasp of English and so I couldnít get any details off her. Plus, she was more worried about being made pregnant rather than any being infected with any STDs, which led me to believe that she was clean judging by her primary concern of being impregnated; but that was just an assumption. When exactly the condom slipped off, I have not a clue; Iím hoping it was towards the end of the session where my Ďheadí had minimal contact with her vagina.

Anyway, after the incident, I had been really worried and depressed, compounded by the fact that I was jobless and had just migrated to a new place. Some of my symptoms after the incident would be:- some skin problems. I had a couple of bumps on my face, which were not pimples cos they didnít feel and look like one. They eventually went away after a couple of weeks. - I also had some small pimple like bumps appearing on my body, mainly in between my chest and my thighs. I also spotted a couple of reddish spots under the skin on my right arm which went away as well. I still have the pimple like thingys on my body - have been having morning diarrhea, where I pass watery stools in the morning and the rest of the day I tend to be fine.- I have not had any other symptoms related to ARS; no sore throat, no swollen glands, no night sweats, no rashes (unless those pimple-like bumps are considered rashes).

I had a real scare that these might be HIV related, but after going through countless posts in the websites and on this forum, came to the conclusion that I was probably over-reacting and that the symptoms were caused by my anxiety and depression. I managed to get over my mood and was thinking everything was going to be fine.

That is until the morning diarrhea got slightly worse. Previously it just used to be passing watery stools and I would be fine for the rest of the day. But in the last couple of weeks, Iím having this dull ache on both sides of my lower abdomen and on some days, I have to pass motion more than usual; theyíre still the watery type. Also, I tended to feel a bit nauseous during the day, resulting in me having had a lesser than normal appetite. Other days, I wouldnít have the nauseous feeling and would have a good appetite. Anyway, I went to see the doctor mainly to talk about my morning diarrhea, and he asked me to go to the pathology to have my stools sampled as well have some blood tests; thatís when I started getting worried, the bit on the blood tests. I couldnít help but think that I may have actually contracted some kind of STI disease; I didnít tell the doctor about my Ďescapadeí by the way.

I hope itís nothing more than just a bug I picked up during my holidays but I am worried on what the results my actually show. Could someone share their views on what they think my symptoms may relate to? Having read through the internet, I know that HIV related symptoms may or may not show on a person, and itís difficult to judge from all these, but Iíd still like to hear some views on these.

Thanks for the post justagirl72. Does the experience I had sound high risk to you and do the symptoms I describe mean anything at all? I mean, they only occurred after that incident, and before this, I was totally fine. It's actually the morning diarrhea that's having me worried now.

And the thing about getting the blood tested; I'm scared shitless of getting the worst possible results outta it. I know I should have it, just to calm my nerves, but then again don't really know what to do should the results be bad news. *sighs*

Like I said get the test. I know its hard to face the possibilities but you will be better off in the long run knowing.its always better to have a result otherwise you could drive yourself nuts..(as seen on this board).stress alone can mess with your body.

Once again, thanks for the post justagirl72. I've given my stool and blood sample to the pathology and will probably be getting the results from my doctor tomorrow. I don't know what it will show and I'm getting nervous now.

Been on the Net looking out for stuffs about my symptoms (not really a good idea, I know), and been getting sort of mixed results. I think I'm pretty much trying to convince myself that I do not have HIV, as I did not have much, if any, of the early symptoms of ARS, just this strange bowel movement in the morning.

I've found out that my symptoms could be from a range of other diseases, the scarier ones being the Hepatitis range of viruses (A, B and C) and the not too serious ones e.g. Irritable Bowel Syndrome, with the pimple like bumps appearing due to my over-anxiety about what had happened. I really hope that the results come out not too serious.

#1 no more sex workers right? why put yourself at risk and add in the stress of worry when the condom fails.#2 it may take a couple of days to grow anything in the stool. I hope things work out for the best. it can take a few months for hep to show plus people usually go years without symptoms because it take awhile to affect the liver. I think you will be ok you prob just picked up a bug and then got sick with worry

"#1 no more sex workers right? why put yourself at risk and add in the stress of worry when the condom fails."

Justagirl. HIV prevention educators spend a lot of time stressing that it's not the person, but the activities that put a person at risk.

A sex worker is no more a risk than you are if neither of you has HIV. Conversely if either of you have HIV, then both of you would carry the same amount of risk to another person if the condom broke.

Assigning risk by sterotyping people only undercuts the hardwork of prevention educators at getting people to understand that all people should be assumed to be infected until testing proves otherwise.

Comments such as the above lead people to believe that they only need to take precautions in certain circumstances and with certain people.

Personal prejudices about who people are or what they do really have no place in health care. It's this type of stereotyping of people that can lead to those that need help to a) not seek it and b) not receive the same level of care that a 'nice' person might receive.

The OP did the correct thing and used a condom. He was protected up until the point the condom slipped off, which more than likely occured after ejaculation as the penis soften, which means there wasn't much a of risk at all.

@ crabman I stand corrected. I didn't mean to sound so ignorant. That was not my intent. Yes education is very important and yes safe sex is important no matter who your with. in fact I know many people who never use safe sex and still dont think they need to be tested and because of what happened to me have treated me like I have the plague. I am very thankful when I get corrected on things im still ignorant about. Maybe I shouldn't post here anymore and leave it up to the experts.

@ crabman. Thank you and yes I have learned alot. My sister told me of her and her husbands infection back in 1987 I was 14 ( I was the only one she told until she started getting sick) she passed in 1994. My sister getting sick was the reason I was safe with my personal life and when an oops happened I didn't freak I tested and waited just like we all have, And when my tests came back neg I was happy and relieved (I guess thats why I post to the worry wells). I never had a problem taking my assignments with pt that had HIV/AIDS. but now I understand more on an emotional/physical level taking the pep around the clock getting very sick turning jaundice all within 28day! and now when I feel ill I think is this it (am I seroconverting?) my intial tests were negative but I have to continue to test up to a year..not because of the cdc recommends it but because of a corporation mandated policy I have to say I am more aware of how drug interations work on these medications and even recently corrected our phamacy when they paired a drug together with my pt's HIV meds..I was so mad they didn't catch it..later the pharmacist thank me for catching the error..the patient never knew. but if it weren't for my pep drugs I never would have caught it. So keep on teaching me and I will keep on advocating no matter what my test turn out to be

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